On paper, The Studio reads like a high-concept satire. In practice, it’s a love letter and a roast to Hollywood itself shot in, about, and for Los Angeles.
Straddling Dream & Disillusion
Created by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg, The Studio stars Matt Remick, a cinephile turned reluctant studio head. He must steer Continental Studios through an era when franchises, brand deals, and algorithms dominate. The show’s tone straddles ambition and absurdity office politics, oversize egos, and existential dread clash in equal measure.
Catherine O’Hara, Kathryn Hahn, Ike Barinholtz, and Chase Sui Wonders round out the cast, each bringing a different wavelength to the chaos.
Architecture as Character
One of the show’s visual joys: the sets. They were modeled after Frank Lloyd Wright–inspired homes and iconic L.A. residences. Some scenes used real homes by famous architects like John Lautner, merging Los Angeles architecture and narrative form.
In one early episode, Remick tours a Lautner house with a producer, using it as a metaphor for “vision vs. commerce.” The house feels like a character open, ambiguous, resisting categorization.
Industry Reflections
The Studio doesn’t avoid Hollywood clichés it leans into them, then flips them. It asks: can you love this city while criticizing its machinery? The series has already broken records for Emmy nominations among freshman comedies.
For L.A., the show is a kind of meta-mirror. It reflects how the industry thinks about itself its past, its ambitions, and its anxieties. And because it’s filmed here, the tension between myth and reality is always tangible.
